---
key: decide-which-addresses-a-new-customer-needs
title: Decide which addresses a new customer needs
audience: staff
section: settings
routes: ["/settings/org/account-address-policy"]
permissions: ["org.settings.read"]
features: ["settings.org.account-address-policy"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Choose which address uses (service, billing, mailing, shipping) Nova recommends or requires when someone creates a customer, and which are preselected for households and companies.
keywords: [address, billing address, service address, required address, new customer, quick add, location, site]
related: [create-an-account, add-an-account-location, set-up-location-types]
---

In the sidebar, open **Settings**, then choose **Account Address Policy** under **Accounts**. The page address is `/settings/org/account-address-policy`.

When someone creates a customer, Nova can suggest or insist on certain address uses: a service site, a billing address, a mailing address, a shipping address. This page sets that rule for the whole organization.

## Before you start

- Anyone with the settings permission can read the page. Changing it needs the permission to write organization settings; otherwise the cards are greyed out.
- The lightest rule that still protects your invoicing and scheduling is the right one. If staff start typing junk addresses to get past the form, the rule is too strict.

## Steps

1. Read the summary card at the top. **Effective create rule** says what Nova asks for today, and the chips show your industry, the profile in effect, where it comes from, and whether it blocks or only warns.
2. Under **Policy mode**, pick **Inherit industry** (marked **Recommended**) to let the organization industry from the **General** page choose the rule. If no industry is set, use the **Set organization industry** link.
3. Or pick **Fixed template** to pin the rule to one template even if the industry changes later. A **Template selection** section appears; choose **Field service**, **Property management**, **Auto service**, **Lodging & reservations** or **General business**. Each card lists what it requires.
4. Or pick **Custom rule** to choose the categories yourself.
5. Under **Create enforcement**, choose **Warn only** (show the recommendation but allow a sparse account) or **Block account creation** (the account cannot be saved without the selected uses).
6. If you chose **Custom rule**, three grids appear. In **Required at customer create** (or **Recommended at customer create** when you chose **Warn only**) select the uses that matter. In **Household default uses** and **Company default uses** select the uses that should be preselected on the quick add and full add forms.
7. Press **Save changes**, at the top right of the **Policy mode** section. **Reset** beside it does not undo your edits: it sets the page back to **Inherit industry** with **Warn only**, and you still have to save. Both buttons stay greyed out until you change something.

## What you see

- The summary card updates as you change things, so **Effective create rule** always tells you what a new-account form will do once you save.
- **Household default** and **Company default** on the card show the preselected uses, or **No preset uses**.
- **Behavior notes** at the bottom is a reminder that this page only controls account creation. Invoicing still needs a billing address and scheduling still needs a service site, whatever you choose here.

## If something looks different

- **Save changes** stays disabled: nothing has changed yet, or your role cannot write organization settings.
- An amber **Inheritance source** notice sits above the mode cards: no organization industry is set, so Nova is falling back to the profile named in the notice. Set the industry or pick a fixed template.
- The **Template selection** section is missing: it only appears when **Fixed template** is the active mode.

[[route:/settings/org/account-address-policy|Open Account Address Policy]]